Smithy
Strata Poster
Had a decent day.
Thought I'd drop the bombshell to open.
Yeah, was on park from about 12.30-6 due to ridiculous traffic. Wasn't impressed at seeing a queue of no more than 6 or 7 groups take 15 minutes to process through the two open booths to get into the park. Had the words of those who've warned me and already visited the park this year ringing in my ears.
Bought a fastpass for Vampire and Dragons Fury as wanted to make sure we got everything done. Fury was very good, best ride on the park. Vampire was pants, we were to the back of the train so it was quite jerky which wasn't good on our bad backs, only real bits I enjoyed were the dip into the tunnel and one of the tight corners where you get fully horizontal. Bit of a let down tbh and that's going in with minimal expectations.
Went to watch one of the carnivore feeds, lucked out as it was the tigers, got a decent view (although it was poorly organised, a theme of the day) but people didn't really know where to go for a decent view or if there was anything going to happen (think there was an issue with speaker system or something). Rattlesnake was fun, not as rough as I'd feared.
They had loads of what were essentially wheely bins full of bottle water or sale. Looked tacky and a bit of a mess tbh.
I'm blabbering now, good luck making it this far.
Sea life centre was alright, probably slightly better than Blackpools.
Was annoyed that the show-times we had on-map and also on-line (and checked throughout the day on my phone) didn't match up with what was on park so we missed the odd show we wanted to see. But gf managed to elbow the kids out the way for a picture with something from Madagascar and we got to the front for the Sea-Lion show (which was brilliant, I do love a good sealion show).
Went on bubbleworks not knowing what it really was. Saw a mix of people coming off, some stone dry some soaked through. Weren't planning on getting wet. Fortunately just us two in a boat didn't create much of a splash and the jets were mostly just spraying us. Very fun quirky little ride, between that and the thing at Fantasy Island it really highlights how poor Charlie at Alton is.
Zufari. Loved the premise of it, it's unique (probably?), and anyone with a Seth Efrican accent is aces by me. Annoyance here was that when you left the viewing room, all the little brats ran through the doors and then ran through the queues. Instead of going back to their parents, they stood in the queue and stomped and screamed for their parents to join them in the queue. Essentially, queue jump/push past. Most to be fair didn't, but at least two waited until their kids were about to board, asked how many were in the party, kids said more and then screamed for their parents to come join and left them pushing past. Should have said something really but meh. Ride itself was actually a bit shorter than I thought, yet still on a grand scale, if that makes sense. Could probably do with something more happening at the end, the 'big surprise' seemed to get a big reaction from the younger ones riding though.
Tomb blaster was a laugh, longer than I expected. Problem here was chavvy kids. No more than 10 years old. Speaking some sort of undecipherable street slang that even I was oblivious to. Playfighting, swearing, abusing each other with crude terms that even I'd not dare use so openly in public (and the C word is a steady part of my vocabulary). Worst example came when they were play fighting, a girl slapped this young lad clean round the face and kicked him, he fell right back into me, no apologies, I pushed him forward and off me, he then screams at the girl that he's gonna rip out her womb. Ahhh, youth of today.
Thoughts on the place as a whole are mixed. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. As a theme park trip, even for those younger, it falls short imo. But as an overall day out, with a good selection and spread of animal exhibits and the sealife centre too, it's good. Definitely prefer it to Drayton as a family day out. Staff were mixed, operations were slow on some rides and brilliant on others. Some serving were a bit lost (I got asked how much what I was buying came to) but all in all they were making more of an effort than they were at Blackpool or Fantasy Island. But then it's more commercial, so it feels more forced from some.
Worst part by an absolute country mile though is this insistence to take your picture mid queue on Zufari, entrance of sea-life centre etc...
You all know what Chessington looks like so here's a picture of the chocolate waffle giraffe's I got that were hugely disappointing. They're not giraffes, they're not covered in chocolate properly and they weren't even warm.
Well that was more than I intended to write. And boring too. Ah well.
Thought I'd drop the bombshell to open.
Yeah, was on park from about 12.30-6 due to ridiculous traffic. Wasn't impressed at seeing a queue of no more than 6 or 7 groups take 15 minutes to process through the two open booths to get into the park. Had the words of those who've warned me and already visited the park this year ringing in my ears.
Bought a fastpass for Vampire and Dragons Fury as wanted to make sure we got everything done. Fury was very good, best ride on the park. Vampire was pants, we were to the back of the train so it was quite jerky which wasn't good on our bad backs, only real bits I enjoyed were the dip into the tunnel and one of the tight corners where you get fully horizontal. Bit of a let down tbh and that's going in with minimal expectations.
Went to watch one of the carnivore feeds, lucked out as it was the tigers, got a decent view (although it was poorly organised, a theme of the day) but people didn't really know where to go for a decent view or if there was anything going to happen (think there was an issue with speaker system or something). Rattlesnake was fun, not as rough as I'd feared.
They had loads of what were essentially wheely bins full of bottle water or sale. Looked tacky and a bit of a mess tbh.
I'm blabbering now, good luck making it this far.
Sea life centre was alright, probably slightly better than Blackpools.
Was annoyed that the show-times we had on-map and also on-line (and checked throughout the day on my phone) didn't match up with what was on park so we missed the odd show we wanted to see. But gf managed to elbow the kids out the way for a picture with something from Madagascar and we got to the front for the Sea-Lion show (which was brilliant, I do love a good sealion show).
Went on bubbleworks not knowing what it really was. Saw a mix of people coming off, some stone dry some soaked through. Weren't planning on getting wet. Fortunately just us two in a boat didn't create much of a splash and the jets were mostly just spraying us. Very fun quirky little ride, between that and the thing at Fantasy Island it really highlights how poor Charlie at Alton is.
Zufari. Loved the premise of it, it's unique (probably?), and anyone with a Seth Efrican accent is aces by me. Annoyance here was that when you left the viewing room, all the little brats ran through the doors and then ran through the queues. Instead of going back to their parents, they stood in the queue and stomped and screamed for their parents to join them in the queue. Essentially, queue jump/push past. Most to be fair didn't, but at least two waited until their kids were about to board, asked how many were in the party, kids said more and then screamed for their parents to come join and left them pushing past. Should have said something really but meh. Ride itself was actually a bit shorter than I thought, yet still on a grand scale, if that makes sense. Could probably do with something more happening at the end, the 'big surprise' seemed to get a big reaction from the younger ones riding though.
Tomb blaster was a laugh, longer than I expected. Problem here was chavvy kids. No more than 10 years old. Speaking some sort of undecipherable street slang that even I was oblivious to. Playfighting, swearing, abusing each other with crude terms that even I'd not dare use so openly in public (and the C word is a steady part of my vocabulary). Worst example came when they were play fighting, a girl slapped this young lad clean round the face and kicked him, he fell right back into me, no apologies, I pushed him forward and off me, he then screams at the girl that he's gonna rip out her womb. Ahhh, youth of today.
Thoughts on the place as a whole are mixed. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. As a theme park trip, even for those younger, it falls short imo. But as an overall day out, with a good selection and spread of animal exhibits and the sealife centre too, it's good. Definitely prefer it to Drayton as a family day out. Staff were mixed, operations were slow on some rides and brilliant on others. Some serving were a bit lost (I got asked how much what I was buying came to) but all in all they were making more of an effort than they were at Blackpool or Fantasy Island. But then it's more commercial, so it feels more forced from some.
Worst part by an absolute country mile though is this insistence to take your picture mid queue on Zufari, entrance of sea-life centre etc...
You all know what Chessington looks like so here's a picture of the chocolate waffle giraffe's I got that were hugely disappointing. They're not giraffes, they're not covered in chocolate properly and they weren't even warm.
Well that was more than I intended to write. And boring too. Ah well.
